How Not To Start Freelancing 5 Lessons Learned The Hard Way

How NOT to Start Freelancing: 5 Lessons Learned the Hard Way Like many English majors I went to school with, I had solely a obscure concept of what I needed to do with my eventual diploma. Maybe I’d pursue a doctorate and educate college, or educate non-native English speakers in some Asian country. Or possibly I’d write the Great American Novel and be set for life. Then, actuality set in. In the center of my school profession, I got married. Though it was certainly not a sudden determination, it did throw things off course for me. Instead of residing in a dorm, walking to class and serious about nothing however school, I was dwelling with my husband, commuting to highschool and working part-time. And in the midst of all this, I stumbled into freelancing. My stepmom, now a full-time medical author with a contract enterprise of her personal, told me how she’d snagged some work from a website known as Elance. She thought maybe I could make extra money writing on the side. So I ch ecked it out and found that I may, certainly, do it. Within a couple of months, I was making more from freelance writing than I was making at my practically-minimal-wage job at the YMCA. Looking again, I’ll tell you that I’m ever so grateful for that first suggestion to look for writing jobs on Elance. And I’m grateful for these first purchasers who employed me, regardless of my very skinny portfolio. But despite this stuff to be pleased about, I actually have a complete list of early freelancing mistakes that make me cringe. Like that one job that involved writing 1,000 “articles” about automobile insurance coverage. (It. Was. Awful.) So should you’re thinking about launching your career as a freelancer, why not skip the School of Hard Knocks and learn from my mistakes? Here are 5 lessons about freelancing I’ve realized the hard method: 1. Don’t Work for Peanuts The primary mistake I made in my early freelancing career was assuming a penny a word is a superb rate for beginning writers. It’s not. A penny a word is simply sustainable if you’re writing crap â€"- heaps and many crap. I may make first rate money writing at this price simply because I’m a really fast writer, and since most of the jobs providing this sort of pay were incredibly redundant. Since I didn’t need to do a ton of research (or craft good sentences), I might write 20,000 phrases in a day. And for someone working on the YMCA, $200 in a day isn’t a bad haul. But the underside line is that a penny a word is a terrible, horrible price for a author â€"- even a complete newbie. (Click right here to tweet this thought.) Seriously, even small, native magazines and mid-sized blogs pay five cents a word or extra. That’s still not so much, however it’s 5 times what I was making starting out! So before you start placing in bids or sending out question letters, perform som e research. Find out what different writers â€"- native English speakers with comparable experience and talent â€"- are charging. And then, charge that. It might take you a bit longer to land your first consumer this fashion, but the extra time might be so worth it. 2. Don’t Take Jobs That Won’t Move You Forward Part of the problem with penny-a-word jobs isn’t simply the pay (although it does, critically, suck). It’s the truth that most of these backside-of-the-barrel jobs may have you writing for content material mills. Essentially, content mills are locations that publish loads and a great deal of low-quality on-line content, which is meant to drive visitors back to the website you hyperlink to. As Google will get smarter about the way it ranks websites, content mills become much less valuable for website house owners, although many will still attempt to drive site visitors by publishing tons of or 1000's of articles on the identical subject. (Kind of like that car insurance job I mentioned earlier than.) The thing with content material mills is that it’s easy to get began with them, especially if you’re a halfway respectable writer. But content mills â€"- and different places the place you can get away with mediocre writing â€"- is not going to advance your career, at all. Trust m e on this one. I obtained stuck writing at content mills for over a year, simply because I didn’t know tips on how to discover any other work. Sure, I had “articles” in my portfolio, however most of them had been writing samples I was embarrassed to show my husband, let alone a potential consumer! And since I didn’t have any great clips to indicate off, I wasn’t moving ahead with my career. In fact, it took me over a yr to move up from that starting fee of one to 2 cents per word! Once I discovered I wanted to begin taking jobs that might really advance my profession, my entire gig-looking strategy changed. Now, I wasn’t looking for whichever shopper would give me work quickly. I was looking for purchasers who would help construct my portfolio, and maybe even give me references for future gigs. As I started specializing in jobs that might move my profession ahead, I broke into a little bit of print journalism, discovered jobs that would let me be happy with my writing an d, finally, landed an excellent bylined lead blogger gig. Sure, throughout some very gradual times in your career, you could have to take a job that received’t give you much ahead momentum. But for essentially the most half, give attention to jobs that may (or, no less than, could) result in bigger, higher, higher-paying jobs. 3. Don’t Keep Terrible Clients Confession: I don’t do battle. (Except with my husband. Somehow being married modifications that non-confrontational thing. But I digress.) And, to me, dropping a client â€" or even expressing a serious concern with a shopper’s ethics, job description or lack of communication â€"- feels confrontational. So I spent the primary few years of my freelance profession sticking with clients, even when they were total pains in the ass. I’d just float together with a client, doing what was asked of me when it was requested, often hoping the consumer would merely disappear or run out of work for me to do. (Which does actually occur sometimes.) It took a while for me to realize that it’s better, in the long run, to only get rid of terrible clients. Clients who don’t pay sufficient, or refuse to raise charges after months of fantastic work. Clients who give only final-minute assignments, leaving you harried and stressed. Clients who count on way an excessive amount of for the cash. Cli ents who're simply rude, or shoppers who are vague and unclear of their expectations. Listen up, future freelancer: these are clients who will wreck. your. career. So don’t hold stringing them along, considering you need the work or being too afraid to get rid of them. Just drop them, already! Trust me, whenever you do, you’ll shortly find a higher consumer to fill the void. 4. Don’t Skip Marketing a hundred and one For nearly three years of my freelancing profession, I did next to no marketing. Can you imagine that? To some of you, this might sound like living the dream. Who needs to do all that advertising stuff, anyway? Well, actually, not me. I hate advertising. It entails speaking to individuals, and there’s a cause I work from home in my pajamas. But I’ll inform you this: since I started actively marketing, somewhat than simply choosing up the “low-hanging fruit” of freelance jobs, I’ve made more money in less time than ever before. The key, as a freelancer, is to figure out which advertising methods work for you and your niche. For instance, if I want to hold working in print journalism (which I actually, really do!), I even have to pitch editors with query letters and letters of introduction. If I want to land purchasers in the world of enterprise-to-business writing, I might need to attend networking events, make cold calls or send data packets. And if I want to get paid the l arge bucks as a blogger, I need to pitch editors and write guest posts. Whatever your area of interest, advertising is vital to creating higher money. The best-paying jobs are nearly at all times the ones that you simply exit and find yourself -â€" not the ones that are best to search out on sites like Elance and People Per Hour. 5. Don’t Be Afraid to Think Big When I first began freelancing, it was just sort of a stopgap. It was extra cash to fill within the blanks in our budget -â€" or to blow on going out and residential décor. But it wasn’t one thing I thought I would do endlessly. At least, not till I got pregnant with my now two-12 months-old. From that first positive being pregnant take a look at, I knew it was time to get more critical about freelancing. I mean, we couldn’t afford for me to be a full-time, stay-at-home-mother, but I also didn’t need to work an everyday, 40-hour-a-week job that had my child in daycare full-time. So round that point, I began getting more severe about freelancing, and I started dreaming greater. I read up on making it as a journalist and developed a plan to break into enterprise writing. I learned more about getting larger-paid running a blog gigs, too. Now I know the sky’s the restrict. Though I’m probably not capturing for a six-determine freelancing career, that’s potential. At least I know I can make a wonderful living working from residence and nonetheless have loads of time to be a wife, mother, and DIYer. I’m dreaming a complete lot greater. If you’re simply getting began as a freelancer, don’t be afraid to dream huge. Those huge goals will drive you to market extra, work smarter and land higher writing gigs. Never underestimate the ability of a big dream. To Your Future Freelancing Success Maybe you’ve already started this freelancing factor (whether or not as a author or in another profession), and possibly you’ve already made a few of these mistakes. I know from expertise that it’s possible to build a successful freelancing profession on a basis of tons of little mistakes. But the sooner you quit making these five mistakes, the extra quickly you’ll skyrocket your freelancing career! If you’re not a freelancer yet, begin your profession off right by thinking of how to keep away from these mistakes. I’ll speak extra in my subsequent submit about how to get began as a freelancer! Freelancers, what mistakes have you made and realized from? Share your knowledge with different readers in the comments! Abby Hayes is a freelance blogger and copywriter who writes about private funds for Dough Roller. She loves detailed budgets, dark chocolate and fats Victorian novels. Image: Photobucket